Next up: South Coast Tournament

Mike Sciacca

A balanced scoring attack enabled the Huntington Beach High boys' water polo team to come back from a three-goal deficit Tuesday against Servite, and defeat the visiting Friars, 13-6, in nonleague play.

Servite opened up a 3-0 lead before the Oilers stormed back. Jack Shearer, Ryan Sillasen and Quinten Osborne each scored twice, Matt Cook drew three exclusions, and goalie Alex Wolf had 13 saves.

The Oilers led, 5-4, at the half and then outscored the Friars, 8-2, in the second half.

"I thought our guys played really well once we understood we did not have to rush," Huntington Coach Brian Anderson said. "We had all of our four turnovers in the first period. After that, we had none.

"At halftime, our guys were pretty fired up, going from 0-3 to 5-4. They definitely felt a momentum shift, and poured it on in the third quarter. Alex Wolf played great and blocked a five-meter shot that devastated their team."

The Oilers, along with Edison, will compete at the three-day South Coast Tournament which starts Thursday and runs through Saturday. Thirty-two teams are divided into four, eight-team pool brackets. Games will be played at pools at Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar, Santa Margarita, and Foothill.

The Oilers, the No. 3 seed in their Corona del Mar High pool bracket, open against No. 6-seeded San Clemente at 6 p.m. Thursday.

"I love the South Coast Tournament," Anderson said. "Many of the best teams from all over, especially Orange County. We get a really good gauge on where we are going into league competition."

Edison, 2-0, is the No. 5-seed in the Foothill High pool bracket. The Chargers open tourney play at 4 p.m. Thursday against Northwood.

"When you look at the majority of the teams in this tournament, what you see are the elite teams in their perspective divisions across Southern California," Edison Coach Diggy Riley said. "This is such a great tournament for so many of us, based on the fact that we are two weeks away for the start of league play, and we want every game to be as challenging as possible, to force us to mentally and physically play at our best."